Experimental Beginnings
by TammyHybrid21
Summary: Spanning multiple dimensions, are multiple origins and beginnings. In this one our favourite klutzy coyote, isn't quite as natural as he'd want to be. When some dreams tell him that things are changing, he goes on a quest to find himself. Can he stay true to himself? Only continued if people want me to.
1. Prologue

_**I only own the idea. No characters belong to me.**_

* * *

The hall was dark and there wasn't any evidence of light. Except at the end of it, in a laboratory a really round overlander man was working hard at his desk. In the little light there was one could see that he was wearing a red jumpsuit with black buttons, a black cape was attached to the back of it. He sat up and used one hand to stroke his mustache, his red eyes burning in the darkness.

"Snively" he growled, electing a squeak from the darkness "Did you get the DNA I requested?" he asked spinning around in his chair to glare at a younger overlander male wearing a green jumpsuit. He's nose was long and pointy; it protruded the most from his face. He also had dark midnight blue eyes. Messy brown hair was atop his head.

"Y-yes Uncle Julian" he stuttered handing over three packets of what looked to be blood.

"Good now hand it over Snively" the rotund man barked. "Now let's see here Coyote, Fox and of course my own DNA" he murmured happiness evident in the slightly lighter tone of his voice.

"So Uncle Julian do you need any other assistance from me?" the other overlander asked, hopping from foot to foot on the spot.

"No Snively I don't" Julian stated, distracted by scanning the first of the samples into a machine "Why don't you go, and have some fun?" he asked waving Snively away. Snively nodded and discretely crept outside leaving his Uncle to the data.

Snively raised one hand and yawned, shaking his head he headed off down the hall to his bed.

Back with Julian he was in the midst of combining the DNA together to make a new life form. He even had set up a tube with liquid in it at the back of the cluttered lab. "Now for the stone" he muttered to himself. He brought out a dusty looking black rock.

He looked around quickly to make sure no one was watching. He set it on a circular pad and scanned its data into the computer. "Excellent" he muttered with a decidedly evil grin as data flooded across the screen. "The properties are just magnificent" he gloated removing the stone from the pad.

He chipped a piece off the stone as he continued talking "This one little piece will give my creation psychic prowess as well as the ability to teleport, warp spaces slightly and possibly travel through time" he grinned again as he listed each thing. He put the shard into a grounding bowel and ground it up.

"Just this little dose is more than enough though" he muttered as he carefully added the newly ground up rock dust into the tube and watched it dissolve into the watery substance within. "Yes it will be more than enough" he gleefully declared to no one.

* * *

It had being just a little over a year, the princess had being born and a little spunky blue hedgehog had also being born. The hedgehog in question was at that moment being held by an older blue-gray hedgehog with a white mustache, who was trying to talk with Julian.

"As you can see Sir Charles this data from Mercia is quite confusing to me and I don't have a clue how to sort it" Julian stated while the little hedgehog in the other's arms squirmed and attempted to pull on his mustache.

"I'm sorry Julian but at the moment I've got my hands full with little Sonic here" the blue-gray hedgehog stated as the youngster in question managed to start pulling on his mustache. "I'll drop by to help you later though" he stated as he turned on his heel and left, with the little baby in his arms gurgling happily.

"Excellent Sir Charles that will be excellent" Julian stated, hiding the annoyance in his tone fairly well. _'Now how am I going to make sure that hedgehog doesn't get in my hair?' _he wondered as he walked back into his lab. "This would be so much easier if I could understand these important files from Mercia myself" he groaned as he stared at the data on the screen.

"Uncle Julian you might want to be careful, that's the same computer attached to your little experiment" Snively warned him, the only thing that Julian done in response was growl at the screen in frustration.

"Soon Snively, soon" he murmured. Snively nodded and discretely backed away from his Uncle. "I think that I'll go take a nap" he stated "Make sure nothing goes wrong Snively" he growled in his nephew's direction.

"Yes Uncle Julian" Snively stated nodding his head vigorously. "I'll be sure to make absolutely certain that nothing goes wrong" he stated.

"You'd better Snively" Julian growled as he walked out. Snively squeaked in response still nodding his head.

* * *

Sir Charles walked carefully into the room, Sonic was still in his arms and giggling all the while. "Now where's the computer with those files?" Charles wondered out loud.

The little baby hedgehog in his arms simply giggled, and pointed towards a flickering computer screen. "Thank You Sonic" Charles stated as he walked over to the computer. The little baby simply gurgled and cooed as it tried to hit a button that was perilously close to its outstretched hands.

"Sonic don't touch anything" Charles scolded the little baby as he tapped a few buttons to read some more of the data.

The little baby who was still in his arms reached out and finally hit the button, as he did he declared "Abbo"

"Sonic what did you just do?" Sir Charles asked as the screen went to static, random numbers also filed across the screen. "Oh no it was deleted" he stated realization crossing his face as the screen went to another section. The little baby hedgehog though just looked up confused and giggled.

"Sir Charles what are you doing?" Snively asked, coming in from an extension of the room. Then he noticed the screen and the data running across it "OH NO this is bad" Snively stated fear entering into his voice.

"I'm trying to recover the files my nephew deleted" Charles stated tapping a few more buttons on the key board while making sure Sonic didn't touch anything else. Snively then walked to another computer terminal and started up another program.

"Oh I hope this works" he stated.

"Why what was the data?" Charles asked noticing Snively's worried look "Was there other data aside from the Mercian files?" he added

"Yes and it was something my Uncle held in high regard, it's very important that I recover those files" Snively whined.

"Well here let me help out" Charles stated sifting though some other data on the main computer and sorting through the programs to try and recover the data before it was fully lost. "There I've done all I could" he stated looking sadly down at his nephew.

"Thanks Sir Charles" Snively stated sadly "Now I hope my Uncle doesn't notice" he added.

"Notice what?" Julian asked coming in "Ah Sir Charles, so what was in the data?" he asked the hedgehog.

"It seemed to be a mix of both the culture and stats on fighting techniques from what I could gather" Sir Charles stated "But my nephew nearly deleted the whole of it I'm sorry to have caused you any trouble" he added looking at the little baby in his arms, who was giggling.

"You may go Sir Charles" Julian stated _'The data from Mercia was deleted or…'_ he thought to himself glancing over at his own nephew who was backing up slowly, towards another consul with the release button on it. "Now what didn't you want me to notice Snively?" he growled.

Snively yelped in shock and jolted back on instinct hitting the release button on the consul. A hissing sound filled the room. "Whoops" Snively stated sheepishly.

"Nice timing Snively now go and make sure that it's perfectly healthy" Julian growled.

"Yes Uncle Julian" Snively whimpered scurrying hastily to the back of the room, where a pitiful crying sound started to resonate from.

* * *

"What do you MEAN THE DATA IS GONE?" Julian exploded, startling Snively while the small brown tail-less coyote sitting on the ground looked up confused.

"Oui?" he asked red eyes wide. Then losing interest in what the overlander was talking about he went back to the blocks that were spread out on the ground in front of him.

"I'm sorry Uncle Julian but the data on the young ones skills is completely gone from the system" Snively stated shaking. "I'm afraid that it's a bust" he added. He looked worriedly at the young coyote who was still playing with the blocks on the floor.

"That information was and still is of utmost importance Snively" Julian stated glaring at his nephew. Julian then turned and glared at the youngster on the floor. He growled watching he youth play around with the blocks, then pointing at him "Also Snively why in the world is he French?" he asked.

"I believe that there may have been a mess up somewhere along the line" Snively stated nervously. "And the data may have gotten mixed up"

"I suppose you're right Snively" Julian grudgingly stated glaring coldly at the young coyote as if it were he's fault. "Without that data though he's useless" Julian stated turning back to Snively who scooped up the youngster, who gave a whine in annoyance. "Get rid of him! I don't care how but do it now!" Julian suddenly growled "Soon the perfect opportunity will occur anyway" he added.

"But Uncle Julian sir" Snively whined holding the coyote a little bit tighter causing him to squirm and whine again "He's a living thing, not a robot. And won't be able to survive on he's own as they aren't quite as durable you know" he tried to plead with his uncle.

"I don't care Snively just get rid of _it_!" Julian growled. Snively nodded nervously.

"Yes Uncle Julian" he stated backing out of the room grabbing a sack as he did.

* * *

Soon Snively was running through the streets of Mobotropolis carrying a now squirming sack. "You don't know how much I hate doing this" Snively whispered to the sack "But I'm not in any position to go against my Uncle" he muttered. The youth in the sack whimpered and pushed at the cloth more, Snively looked a little unsure of himself.

He kept walking carefully avoiding meeting anyone and going through the alleys to get away from the busier streets. Soon he was out of traffic and nearer to the forest. "I'll leave you here" Snively grumbled dumping the bundle at the base of a tree. He hesitated before leaving "I wish you good luck" he muttered.

He quickly looked around and ran back to Mobotropolis having several thoughts that maybe someone who cares enough to take in an orphan will come along and pick it up.

* * *

"I got rid of him for you, Uncle Julian" Snively panted. His Uncle grinned.

"Excellent Snively just excellent" Julian purred "Now I hope I don't ever have to see that brat again" he snarled.

"I assure that you won't Uncle" Snively stated "hopefully somebody picks him up" he added under his breath.

"What was that Snively?" Julian growled.

"I said you're going to go straight to the top Uncle" Snively covered.

"Yes I am, soon very soon Mobius will fall to me and nobody will stand in my way" he growled then started to chuckle darkly. Snively gave him a nervous look in the background then glanced almost wistfully at the children's toys scattered throughout the room.

"Good luck" he muttered once more.

* * *

_**Explanation time I was just patrolling around checking out some sites when I came across an interesting forum debating what exactly Antoine's species was. And well after reading some of the guesses and thoughts I started to come up with my own little theories this particular story is going to be an origin story of sorts for our favourite coyote. **_

_**Now you may say that Antoine wasn't in this but he was of course this doesn't have anything to do with my TH-Continuity this is a different AU entirely I'm not exactly sure which universe it's set in.**_

_**It's also possibly the first time I'm going to try something like this and I'll only continue if people want me to of course I've had the idea in my head for a while and it just wouldn't leave me alone. **_

_**Review if you want me to continue, otherwise just ignore the story entirely. **_

_**Edit: I've edited a few things in the prologue now to try and make it flow a little bit easier and fill in some of the gaps. I also tried to fix the tense changes so that it stayed the one tense. Also changed a few things around like how Snively leaves the young canine in the forest and on what note he leaves.**_


	2. Chp 1 Enter Armand

_**First Chapter because Infamousplot thought it seemed original and I'm quite interested in seeing how I can pull it off. Also thank you to all those kind enough to review the last chapter.**_

_**I only own the plot no characters belong to me.**_

* * *

The little coyote within the sack in the forest though was sitting there confused the warmth he'd been able to feel before was gone and the air was thinning. Though he couldn't understand what was going on he knew that something was wrong. _'What happened?' _he wondered tears coming to his eyes he shook his head and then cried out _"OUT?"_ he then pushed against the cloth that was keeping him in and the world out.

"Hmm?" a voice entered the young coyote's ears and he glanced up as the back was picked up. He didn't know who had picked him up but he whimpered and pushed against the cloth again signaling that he wanted to get out. "What could this be?" the voice asked and the young coyote then decided to try speaking up.

"_Out… please" _he managed to struggle out in French. He heard a gasp and looked up to find his crimson red eyes meeting worried azure blue ones. He then tried to pull himself up and out of the bag for himself, the owner of the blue eyes decided to assist him.

"Now where did you come from? And what were you doing in that sack?" the owner of the blue eyes asked. The younger coyote noted that he was a dark nearly chocolate brown coyote with orange-blonde hair, he was wearing a blue military uniform with red ridging and gold shoulder cuffs along with brown boots. He then huffed indigently causing the older coyote to laugh.

'_It's not funny' _the youth thought glaring as well as he could up at the older canine. _'Where's the kind person I was with?' _he thought letting tears brim in his eyes.

The older canine held him up and the youngster quickly banished away the tears in favor of kicking out and growling in disagreement with being held. _'Put me down' _he thought still growling at the other coyote.

"Why where's your tail?" the coyote suddenly asked. "And why would anyone leave you alone?" he added on under his breath.

_'Tail? What's that supposed to... wait' _thought the youngster giving him a confused look. Then he yelped as the older canine started walking, back to the city. "Pas! Pas!" he cried out kicking and struggling _'My friend will be back soon!' _he thought.

* * *

At that particular moment in time Snively was cleaning up all the scattered toys around his Uncle's lab. He stopped and looked over at his Uncle nervously. _'I miss him' _he thought to himself, _'Good luck little canine' _he added on to the thought.

"Snively can you arrange an attendance with King Acorn for me?" Julian asked causing Snively, who was still lost in thought to jump and drop everything he was holding. "Snively when you get back you'd best clean up this mess"

"Yes sir" Snively stated "You slimy toad..." he added on to himself.

"What was that?"

"I said, It's quite a load" he covered as he scrambled out to do the job requested of him.

* * *

Sir Charles was holding a squirming Sonic and trying to explain to a flustered woodchuck how to watch him, when the doors of the daycare opened and the flustered coyote stumbled in while the youth in his arms howled.

"Oh my! Armand what happened?"

"And who's the kid?"

"I don't know who's kid this is, but Rosie please try and calm him down while I attempt to find out what type of Mobian would abandon a child in a sack in the forest" he gasped out, while he handed the still defiant pup to the woodchuck.

"You do know that King Acorn would like to see you right Armand?" Sir Charles asked the guard.

"What? Oh right..." Armand stated, he left muttering to himself what he'd do if he ever found the person cruel enough to leave a kid on his own in a sack.

"Well I hope you can handle two kids on your own" Sir Charles stated putting Sonic down. As soon as his feet touched the ground the young hedgehog zipped off into the playroom.

"Make that three" a third voice cut in.

"Oh dear" Rosie sighed when the pup she was holding started to scream again.

* * *

"Hmm Snively what do you make of this?" Julian asked showing Snively a display of some blueprints labled **'Roboticizer' **"What does Sir Charles need with these?" he wondered.

"I'm not sure sir" Snively stated "The king is coming down along with one of his guards and also that annoying hedgehog scientist. What was his name again, Oh yes Sir Charles" Snively explained.

"Then hurry up and clear away this mess Snively!" Julian growled.

"Yes sir" Snively squeaked and he hurried to do his Uncle's bidding. Soon enough all the toys were cleared away and the door was squeaking open to reveal the King, Armand and Sir Charles.

"Good day King Max" Julian stated bowing to the light brown fox.

"Good day to you too Julian and Snively" King Max stated. "Now I have understanding that you want my permission for something?" he asked.

"Yes sir" Julian stated, "I'd like to get permission to create some robotic soldiers" he added on, bringing up some blueprints of a cyclops like robot. "I call them SWATbots" he stated.

"But will they be safe?" Armand suddenly cut in, Sir Charles shook his head and rolled his eyes in the background "And how can we be sure they'll work?" he asked.

"I could oversee the project, if that's okay with you?" Sir Charles stated, checking in with the King to make sure that he had the go-ahead.

"Yes that will be quite alright" King Max said nodding.

"I don't trust them" Armand muttered to himself. "I just don't trust them" he mumbled.

* * *

Sonic and the younger coyote were at that moment exploring the playroom, along with a young walrus calf who was more interested in the blocks than the other children.

_'This place is big, and very noisy' _the young canine thought as he crawled around. Sonic on the other hand was dashing all over the place, giving Rosie a real work out while he was at it. He then knocked over the blocks that the walrus was playing with, causing them to fly everywhere. _'What was that?' _the little tail-less coyote wondered when several of them landed with a clatter near him.

Armand, King Max and Sir Charles suddenly entered talking quietly among themselves. Though they quickly stopped talking when Sir Charles caught a-hold of Sonic and picked him up. "No Sonic, you don't run inside" the hedgehog scolded the youngster.

"Ahh that reminds me" King Max stated "How's Sally doing?" he asked Rosie who looked a little flustered until a small voice piped up.

"Daddy" and a small brown chipmunk/fox hybrid toddled out and over to the group.

"Who's dat?" Sonic asked squirming in his Uncle's arms.

"Who's dat?" the young female mimicked.

"I'm Sawnik" the little hedgehog stated managing to get his uncle to relinquish his grip on him "An' who're you?" he asked

"I'm Sally" she stated happily.

Meanwhile the small canine had collected several blocks to play with, but was happy to share them with the walrus. He grinned as he fiddled around with them and helped to make a little wall. "Thanks" the little walrus mumbled as the coyote grinned at him.

"Wat's dat?" Sally asked as she toddled over to the two playing with the blocks. Sonic huffed and followed only to drop his jaw in amazement when he say a little model house in front of the coyote and walrus.

"We did it towether" the little walrus muttered blushing from all the attention. The coyote on the other hand was still focusing on the model in front of him.

_'It's missing something...' _he thought.

"Hey what's that?" King Max asked pointing at the kids who had by this point all congregated around the model house. "Is that a house made from blocks?" he asked.

"It appears so" Sir Charles stated sounding impressed. "Who made it?" he asked. Sonic and Sally both pointed towards the little canine and walrus. The walrus blushed and looked at his feet, while the small canine was still thinking.

"Amazing"

"Now that's something worth praise"

"How did they manage that?" Armand wondered. Suddenly he felt that he knew just where the pup belonged. "How's this? I adopt him as my son?" he asked. Rosie looked at him a bit unsure while King Max nodded. Sir Charles had by that point left, but Sonic was still sitting there and staring at the canine.

"I'm not sure..." Rosie stated, but she trailed off noting the hopeful look on Armand's face "Oh fine, besides he does need a proper family" she stated "But are you sure you can handle two boys?" she asked him.

"Of course! Plus, I'm sure Aimé would love a brother" he stated. "Now what shall we call him?" he wondered.

"Ant!" the young hedgehog suddenly piped up, making himself known.

"Oh dear Sir Charles left Sonic here" Rosie gasped.

"Ant! He's Ant!" Sonic shouted pointing at the young canine, whom wore a confused expression.

"Ant... short for Anthony?" Armand asked. Both Sonic and Sally pulled faces while Ant shook his head. "Ant, Antonio?" he asked. Heads shaken all around.

"Ant, Ant, Ant" Sonic cheered.

_'Almost there, just a few more' _Ant and Sonic thought in synch then Sonic glanced in confusion at the young coyote who gave an innocent look.

"Antoine?" Armand finally asked.

"Yeah" Sonic cheered.

"Oui, Oui" Antoine shouted nodding his head.

* * *

Julian and Snively were at that moment going over the SWATbot blueprints adding and removing details, making sure they were battle ready. "Be sure to add in the additional data on the mobians they'll be protecting" Julian growled. "And finish downloading those Roboticizer plans" he added.

"Yes sir" Snively stated typing quickly on the computer inputting the data, as well as hacking into Sir Charles files. Suddenly the door squeaked and he shifted the page to the basic blueprints. Julian smirked when he did.

"Ahh hello Julian, Snively" Sir Charles stated as he came in. "I'm here to oversee the project.

"Of course Sir Charles" Julian drawled "Right over here" he added on motioning to the screen that showed the blueprints.

"Hmm you need to improve the body strength, and while it's flexible that won't necessarily be needed on the battle field as they're robots" Sir Charles muttered to himself revising the plans and enhancing different bits and pieces.

"This will be easier than we first thought Snively" Julian whispered to his assistant with a grin.

"I know Sir I know" Snively whispered back. They both shared grins after that.

* * *

_**Constructive Criticism is very much welcome, now things are getting somewhere and it looks like Sir Charles is unknowingly helping pave the way for Robotnik to take over LOL.**_


	3. Chp 2 Family and Mercia

_**Thanks to all who left a review on the last chapter, they really help me want to work on my stories more! Now in this chapter along with a few after it most of the spoken lines are in French to the characters but will be Italics for us, okay.**_

_**Now I'm going to be introducing a few FCs in this chapter and I own them and the plot but not any character or place you recognise, though I could own the particular place's name...**_

* * *

Armand quickly scooped Antoine up and the small puppy laughed in joy. Everyone else was grinning and smiling at the joy that Armand and Antoine were displaying, it was spreading quite quickly to each and every mobian in the room. Armand beamed around at everyone, out of the window he noticed a brown mobian stag with golden yellow eyes and red hair. The stag was nodding with a satisfied look on his face, almost as if he knew something that Armand didn't.

Soon Armand set Antoine back down and turned to Rosie to inquire as to how best to travel back to Mercia with the toddler. Antoine crawled back over to the walrus calf and pointed to the blocks. "Sure" he nodded.

"Merci" Antoine grinned picking up some of the blocks and playing with them. The young Princess watched him curiously. Sonic meanwhile was simply back to zooming around the room and causing general mischief.

Once the adults had stopped talking Armand walked over to the children and scooped up Antoine, who at first huffed in annoyance until he found himself being tickled. As he giggled and tried to escape from the tickling he heard Armand talking to him "Soon enough Antoine, you'll be meeting the rest of the family and seeing Mercia for the first time as well" Antoine grinned up at Armand his crimson eyes filled with laughter.

* * *

"_...Now I'm sure you'll enjoy meeting Aimé he's really fun to be around though I'm not overly sure how trustworthy he is..."_ Armand was explaining in French to a only half listening Antoine all about what he could expect. _"...My brother used to work with me in the military but I don't know if he quit or not..." _they were currently walking up a hill towards a house, Antoine was trying to look at everything he could. _"Oh look we're here" _Armand suddenly stated.

Antoine looked up at Armand confused. Then he looked towards the small town house painted a light lilac with a neat garden around it. _'We are?' _he wondered. Armand smiled at the pup and opened the door to their house, only for a bucket of water to fall down and land on his head. Antoine unable to resist, only half wondering how he managed to avoid getting wet as well, burst into laughter. Someone else was also snickering though it was quieter than one would expect Antoine's ears picked it up and he turned in the direction from which it was coming from. _'who's that?' _he wondered. He didn't have to wonder for too much longer.

Another coyote came from a back part of the house, probably to see his handiwork in action. He was a dark brown colour but had lighter tan fur around the belly and muzzle area. He was in blue jeans and a green wristwatch was strapped to his left wrist. His turquoise eyes sparkled mischievously. He caught sight of Armand, gasped then fled back to where he'd come from down the hall.

Armand, so that he could get the bucket off his head, had by this time placed Antoine on the floor of the room. Antoine curious was crawling after the older canine to see what he could find out about him. He stopped and turned back to Armand who was mentally wondering _'Where does that boy get it from? And how does he manage to set them all up? I know that Belle wasn't a real prankster, though she did love a good joke. I may enjoy a good joke but I don't prank others that much... so where?' _finally he'd managed to pop the bucket off. Antoine was sitting and staring out at the hallway unsure of what to do at this point.

"_Aimé" _Armand hollered, Antoine immediately stared at him in surprise _"get back here right now!"_

The other canine now revealed as Aimé come back into the room with a sheepish grin on his face. As he passed by Antoine he scooped up the young pup. "_What's up dad?" _He asked nervously, then he also laughed nervously _"And who's this?" _he added inclining his head in Antoine's direction.

"_Not exactly how I envisioned you meeting your new brother" _Armand muttered _"But it works, I suppose that trick was a little bit funny..." _he trailed off, shaking his head he finally explained _"Aimé this is your new little brother Antoine!"_

"_I have a brother now?" _Aimé asked blankly.

"_Yes aren't you happy?" _Armand asked worriedly.

"_It's not that... do I have a new mother that I should know about?" _Aimé asked suspiciously.

"_What? No, it's just Antoine! He was abandoned in the Great Forest you see" _Armand was quick to explain. Aimé laughed at how flustered he'd managed to make his father. _"Now I'll leave you two to get acquainted"_ Armand stated and then he left muttering to himself.

Aimé laughed again then stopped and looked at the small puppy he was holding in his arms. _"So Antoine.. I know that you probably aren't able to talk much yet but..." _he trailed off shook his head then grinned _"I have a pretty good alternative" _he stated. He then put the young pup down on one of the couches and disappeared back down the hall. Antoine crossed his arms together and looked around from his vantage point, eyes scanning all the portraits of Armand and Aimé that decorated the walls. He stopped looking around when Aimé burst back into the room holding several coloured pencils and different pieces of paper. _"Express yourself though art Sport!" _he grinned.

At first Antoine just stared at the paper as if he wasn't sure what to do with it or the pencils. Then he grinned and started to draw. Aimé soon noticed that it seemed that the pup was ignoring him, at first he thought nothing of it. Eventually though Aimé's lack of patience had him pacing the room and checking the clock on the wall every two minutes or so. After a while he tapped his foot then, giving up patience he began to reset his prank from earlier. This time though adding some bells to the bucket to make it surprise the recipient.

After a few more minutes of pacing and setting up a couple of other assorted pranks, including a few whoopee cushions Aimé's patience snapped. _"What are you drawing Sport?" _he asked the small pup sitting on the floor, half buried in the paper around him. At first Aimé thought that he wouldn't answer, as he tilted his head to the side as if noticing him for the first time. Aimé couldn't help himself he cooed then ruffled his headfur. _"So what are you drawing Ant?" _he asked again.

At first the youngster tried to straighten his now messy hair but soon gave up._ "Wook!" _the toddler held up a childish drawing of Armand and Aimé, the playroom that he'd being in earlier and the house that they were standing in.

Aimé looked them over seriously then he grinned _"They're cool" _he admitted, he looked them over again. _"You're not in any though, why not Sport?" _he asked confusion entering his voice. Antoine glared up at him as though saying how dare you criticise my work and Aimé laughed again _"Okay, okay you just aren't". _Antoine grinned once more, then he winced when a loud jangling sound entered his ears. Aime jumped a bit startled.

Antoine after shaking his head turned to look towards the door. To see who was unlucky enough to have triggered one of Aimé's pranks. Standing in the doorway was another coyote. This one had light tan fur with a darker brown muzzle and belly area. He was in a black top and black boots. His orange-blonde hair was haphazardly strewn across his head. To top it off he had blue gloves on his hands.

Toddling after him was a three year old coyote with light tan fur but with a white muzzle and belly area. She had on some cute red baby booties and a blue T-Shirt. Her tail and headfur were a dark near chocolate brown colour. Her light baby-blue eyes were filled with laughter. _"Hello Aimé" _she cheerfully called out.

"_Hey Jacqueline"_ he called out to her _"Hey Uncle Alexandre"_ he added with a laugh. _"So why is Jacqueline with you today?"_ he asked smirking. Jacqueline grinned, Antoine looked at her confused.

"_Well I finally quite my job" _the older canine stated with a wink _"So as to take better care of this trouble maker" _he added scooping up the female pup, who laughed then mock glared at her father. _"Also so I can help my brother take care of you" _he smirked as he said this putting Jacqueline down. She quickly toddled over to Antoine, who hid something behind his back._ "So who is this?" _Alexandre asked looking curiously at Antoine, who stared back with just as much curiosity.

"_He was an orphan that Dad picked up" _Aimé stated _"Now he's the newest member of the family, Antoine" _when he heard his name the young pup looked up. Alexandre nodded, satisfied with the explanation he'd been given.

"_That sounds like something my brother would do" _he stated _"He never quite could stop himself from helping those in trouble" _Antoine and Jacqueline were both staring at him intrigued _"Course it nearly got us killed that one time. So I doubt he's too pleased about King Max letting two Overlanders in his court" _he concluded. Antoine whined annoyed that he didn't get to hear the full story. Jacqueline just sighed.

"_Yeah he definitely isn't pleased about it" _Aimé growled, surprising Antoine _"After all they're the ones who took my mother from us!" _he ended up hissing it out. Antoine stared absorbing this new piece of information, he then screwed up his nose as if he'd smelt something bad.

_'Nasty people' _he thought to himself. _'But not all of them are...' _a small part of his mind reminded him. Jacqueline seemed to sense what he was thinking as she toddled back over to him from the other side of the room.

She gave him a small smile then brought out her own pencils and paper. _"Draw?" _she asked him curiously. Antoine, effectively snapped out of his thoughts turned to her and nodded happily. Soon enough they were both happily sketching things down onto the paper. Aimé and Alexandre had wandered off into a doorway to the right of the couch that the two kids were drawing by.

Antoine was trying fairly had to not let Jacqueline see his pictures yet, and failing immensely. She kept on showing him her childish sketches of them all standing together in different places, several of which seemed familiar to Antoine, yet he couldn't quite pinpoint why. She also had a few pictures of some mysterious coyotes who Antoine didn't recognise. Antoine on the other hand had drawn a couple of pictures of Aimé, Armand and Jacqueline together along with a small sketch of Alexandre with the bucket sitting lopsided on his head and the water dripping off of him. He'd also done one of himself sitting in a field staring at the sky above him.

Finally he couldn't resist asking the question about the coyotes in Jacqueline's picture. _"Who dey?" _he asked pointing to them in her pictures. At first Jacqueline remained silent then she sighed and turned to her adopted cousin.

"_They were my mother, and Aimé's mother" _she admitted. Antoine immediately felt guilty, remembering Aimé's statement from earlier about Overlanders taking his mother. He looked anywhere around the room except at Jacqueline, so he was the one who saw the vase fall off the table beside them.

"_Wook out!" _Antoine cried out pushing Jacqueline out of the way, only just managing to escape from being hit by it himself. _'How did that happen?' _he wondered glaring at the broken vase on the ground. _'What caused it to fall?' _he asked himself looking around.

At first Jacqueline was too surprised to say anything, when she did find her voice though she quickly voiced her thanks. _"Thanks Ant"_

"_What happened?"_ Alexandre asked bursting into the room. He soon saw the broken vase and groaned. Aimé on the other hand was checking over the two pups.

"_You okay Sport?" _he questioned Antoine, who just nodded still wondering what caused the vase to fall. _"What about you Princess?" _he smirked as he asked that. Antoine glanced at him confused.

"_I not the prin-pini-pinicess" _Jacqueline snapped crossing her arms and glaring at Aimé.

"_Yeah they're fine!" _he called out, then he saw the broken vase _"But I don't think that the vase is..." _he joked weakly. Alexandre groaned again, but it quickly became a gasp. Jacqueline's eyes widened and at first Aimé was confused until he turned around, and gasped for himself. The vase was seemingly fixing itself, hovering in mid air until all the pieces were back in place. It then righted itself and flew back up onto the table sitting more or less where it had been except slightly further from the edge. At the same time Antoine let out a little yawn. _"Wha-How?" _Aimé gaped a loss of words _"Usually when something breaks it stays broken and Father gets all upset" _he stated when he found his voice again. _"I wonder how that happened?" _he muttered looking at Antoine curiously. Antoine was rubbing his eyes sleepily though and didn't really notice.

"_How about we keep this little incident to ourselves?" _Alexandre suddenly asked turning to the other three canines. Antoine yawned in response curling up into a little ball and closing his eyes.

"_Sure thing Uncle" _Aimé mumbled scooping up his younger brother and putting him back down on one of the couches. _"That'll be more comfortable for you I think" _he muttered as the small pup stated to lightly doze.

"_I will" _Jacqueline stated, staring at her cousin _"I pr'tect you too" _she added to no one in particular.

Alexandre on the other hand cooed and then spoke _"Isn't he cute?" _Aimé nodded, while Jacqueline just kept watching her adopted cousin's sleeping form. Suddenly the door creaked open and everyone turned to look at it, except Antoine who rolled over to face the back of the couch.

"_I'm back" _Armand called out holding two bags of supplies _"So what did I miss?" _he asked. Looking warningly over at Aimé who gave an innocent look in return. He then caught sight of the sleeping Antoine _"Aww look at that. He's gone to sleep" _he cooed. Then he seemed to think for a bit _"Well I suppose he did have a long day for a toddler" _he muttered. Alexandre and Aimé both sighed, Jacqueline though grinned up at her Uncle.

Armand gave Alexandre the supplies, which he eyed nervously _"You know I can't cook Armand..." _he stated nervously.

"_Just hold them" _Armand stated distractedly, as he carefully picked up the sleeping pup. He then carefully manoeuvred his way out of the room and down the hall, going through the third door down. The room was Aimé's old bedroom and was painted a light sky blue it even still had Aimé's old worn crib in it. Armand gently laid Antoine into the crib, then he watched him for a bit deep in thought _'He may be small right now, but there's something about him...' _Armand wondered _'I know that given the right care he'll grow up strong, I can feel that. But there is something more...' _he trailed off _'And then there's that mysterious stag, I've seen him twice now. And yet I don't know anything about him' _he then slipped out of the room and walked back to the others.

"_So what's for dinner?" _Aimé asked staring confusedly at his father.

"_You'll see soon enough Aimé" _Armand grinned at his son. Aimé huffed and rolled his eyes. A sudden crash from down the hall stopped him from saying anything though.

"_What caused that?" _everyone asked except for Jacqueline who seemed to be glaring down the hall. A scream echoed throughout the house and Armand was the first to work out what was going on. He quickly disappeared down the hall, to try and comfort the screaming toddler. Jacqueline looked a lot like she wanted to follow him, and retained a focused look on her face.

"_This is going to be a long year" _Aimé sighed _"Especially if he has a lot of nightmares..." _he mumbled.

"_Sooooo do I order take out then?" _Alexandre asked. Aimé stared at him unsure of what to do in response. Jacqueline on the other hand spared him a quick glance, but continued to stare focused down the hall, in the direction of the screams. _"I take that as a no then..." _Alexandre muttered.

* * *

_**No Robotnik or Snively this chapter... Also for anyone who was confused the KFFs would be around two in the last chapter, same with this one which is a direct continuation of the last chapter. This is possibly the quickest update so far... but that's because I already had this partly written out.**_

_**Edit: I've gone back and re-written some of the chapter to make it flow a little bit better and to fix a few bits that weren't quite clear.**_


	4. Chp 3 Training for the Unexpected

_**I'm so annoyed at the computer right now, for one thing I had finished about half of chapter three of my story EB. Then it crashed and somehow deleted the whole of my work and the summary of it as well, So I lost it all. And I had saved it. Anyway Jacqueline is four, Antoine is three and Aimé's eleven.**_

_**Anything you recognise doesn't belong to me. Also since I lost the summary I'm writing this with no real plan, soooo it could be pretty terrible for all I know.**_

* * *

Antoine stood tall looking up at his Uncle, clutching his wooden practice sword (waster) tightly in his left hand. Jacqueline stood beside her father clutching her own waster in her right hand, she'd bugged her father for several minutes before he'd finally relented and let her have one and to join in the lesson.

"_Now Antoine, and Jacqueline you must first find your centre of gravity before attempting any attacks or moves" _Antoine nodded seriously while Jacqueline grinned cheekily. She swung her waster forward and pulled it backwards adopting a defensive position. Antoine looked at her confused while Alexandre shook his head. _"Don't show off little seer" _he joked. Antoine then turned to him confused.

"_Who knows, I might be!" _Jacqueline replied with a grin and a thumbs up. Aimé then walked out of the house wearing a blue cape cast over his shoulders and a cheeky grin, he had his waster clipped to the belt holding up his jeans.

"_Sure you are Jac!" _he teased her good naturedly, Jacqueline immediately glared at him. _"SO let's see your stances!" _he declared, Antoine immediately stood straight and held his waster in front of him at the ready, Jacqueline on the other hand dropped down into a sort of half crouch and moved her waster across in front of her body. _"Interesting, how balanced are you Sport?" _Aimé asked tapping him with the tip of his waster.

Antoine having not expected it, toppled over and found himself lying on his side in the grass of the garden. _"Not funny Ai" _Antoine complained. Soon he was back into a standing position. Aimé looked over at Jacqueline and smirked.

"_Hey Jac where'd you learn that if this is your first time?" _he asked with a grin, Jacqueline immediately spun around and moved her left arm out flat wile raising her right one along with the waster above her head. _"I mean really..." _Aimé trailed off staring at the young pup.

"_I think that maybe there is something to that whole *I'm a seer* stuff she claims after all..." _Alexandre mumbled. Antoine having heard him, gave a quick confused glance in his Uncle's direction. Antoine then shook his head and tried to focus on what Aimé was saying, something about both balance and using the enemies own strength against them now how did that work?

Jacqueline glanced over to Antoine he seemed a bit unfocused to her, she grinned up at Aimé, who had at some point stopped talking about swordplay techniques and switched to some ancient lore of some sort. She sighed and toddled across the grass to Antoine. _"Hey Ant! Are you bored or something? Cause you seem districted" _she asked him.

"_Somthing is amiss, plus Uncle Alex keeps mutting noisily to himself" _Antoine mumbled his reply tripping over a few words as he did. Jacqueline stared at him in confusion.

"_But I don't hear him saying anything..." _she muttered trailing off, Antoine looked at her shocked then shook his head as if to clear it.

"_But I can" _Antoine stated shaking his head stubbornly.

"_Hey since Aimé's talking about legends why don't we practice by ourselves!" _Jacqueline suggested with a smirk, Antoine nodded. Jacqueline grinned then dragged him through the garden, and out to a more secluded spot, hidden beneath a bush. _"This is my secret place!" _She declared. Antoine stared around at all the books lying around on the ground.

"_Shouldn't those be inside?" _he asked her pointing them out. Jacqueline simply shrugged then got into her defensive position again.

"_Do your worst!" _she stated with a grin. Antoine at first gave her a confused look until his mind had finished processing the fact of what she'd just said.

"_You're on!" _he muttered charging right at her, Jacqueline grinned then she spun out of the way swinging her own waster around so that it knocked against his. _"What?" _he asked surprised when she was suddenly behind him and he felt a tap on the legs from her own waster.

"_Stay balanced!" _she declared as he tottered on the spot. Antoine soon gave up trying to re-balance himself and instead threw out his arms letting go of his waster to try and catch himself. Jacqueline quickly took this opportunity to dart around in front of him, catch him and hold her waster in a threatening way. At least that's what she would have done had of she been a little older, instead they ended up both lying dazed on the grass.

"_That didn't work very well" _Antoine muttered once he shook himself out of his daze. Jacqueline nodded then she pulled herself up into a sitting position. _"Where's my sword?" _Antoine asked looking around for it. Jacqueline shook her head to finish clearing it.

"_Is that it over there?" _she asked pointing to it lying a little ways down the hill in the grass. _"And they're only Wasters" _she added on. Antoine nodded toddling over to the wooden sword and picking it up. _"Another round?" _she asked as she grabbed her own one from beside her.

"_I don't see why not" _Antoine grinned holding up his waster and then flinging it forwards, Jacqueline quickly raised her own one and parried the blow away from herself. Antoine growled and then flung his waster forwards again. Jacqueline actually yawned as she ducked beneath it then raised her own one. Antoine was caught off guard once more when she used her waster to sweep him off his feet. _"Not fair!" _he stated slightly winded.

"_Keep your balance and you'll win" _Jacqueline stated quoting her father.

"_Couldn't have said it better myself" _Alexandre's voice caused both of the pups to look over to him, Jacqueline giving a nervous shrug and sheepish grin. _"Next time make sure to keep one of us with you" _he scolded gently then he smirked _"Now come on who wants some ice-cream?"_

"_We do!" _Antoine and Jacqueline both cried out in synch. As they made their way back up the hill towards the house, Antoine thought he heard something from behind them. When he turned around though there was nothing there.

_'Something is coming...' _he thought to himself as he scrutinised the bushes nearest to them.

"_What's wrong Antoine?" _Alexandre asked noticing that he'd stopped.

"_I thought that I heard something..." _Antoine explained not looking at his Uncle. Before his Uncle could respond two strangers jumped out from behind the bushes brandishing swords and they both slashed the forwards in the canines direction. Alexandre quickly pulled Antoine to safety then backed up and pulled out his real sword. _"Do you always carry that arund?" _Antoine shrieked still recovering from the shock of the unexpected attack.

"_Overlander spies" _Alexandre hissed staring at the two strangers, now identified as overlander soldiers. Antoine stared at them nervously, while they leered back at him and Alexandre. _"You should leave if you know what's good for you" _he growled out baring his teeth at them.

"_Oh should we now?" _one of them taunted, he sounded quite young Antoine thought. _"I don't think so Mobian!" _he stated swinging his sword lazily _"Besides you seem to be a bit out of practice Old Timer"_ at that he and his friend burst into laughter. Antoine found himself growling at them and he stood up.

"_He is not that Old!" _he shouted glaring sharply at them both, they both shut up and stared at him. _"Now leave us alone!" _he declared holding his waster tightly. Then they both started laughing once more.

"_Isn't that cute a little pup thinks he can boss us around" _the other overlander laughed with a rough hard-edged voice. Antoine continued glaring at them though and Alexandre held his sword at the ready for anything.

"_Well let's show him who he can boss around" _the other one laughed. _"Eh Mike?" _he asked.

"_Yeah Sam" _with that *Mike* ran forward wielding his sword, it was blocked by Alexandre. Of course that meant that *Sam* was clear, and he quickly swept his own sword forwards. Antoine, taking a page out of Jacqueline's book quickly ducked down to dodge the blow.

Antoine yelped and quickly backed away, wide eyed. _"Leave my cousin alone!" _Jacqueline's shout echoed through the area causing Alexandre and Mike who had their swords locked together to spin around to see what was going on. Sam turned to stare at the small four year old who dared to speak up to stop him.

"_Hey check it out it's another little pup!" _Sam laughed, Jacqueline dropped down into a defensive position and held her waster at the ready. _"But this one knows something..." _he growled.

_'Jacqueline no' _Antoine thought then he called out _"Go get Aimé!" _Jacqueline hesitated but then she ran forwards. Antoine shook his head as the overlander male smirked and swung his sword forward. Antoine closed his eyes, when he did though he heard the ring of metal on metal. He opened his eyes again to see a red wolf standing over Jacqueline and protecting her, Jacqueline wore a frown.

"_I could've handled it!" _she cried out shaking her left hand in a fist. The wolf smirked then flicked his wrist and his foe tethered precariously on the spot.

"_Sure you could've" _Aimé's voice broke in, Antoine immediately looked up with a grin. Aimé's smirk suddenly changed to a panicked look and he cried out again _"Heads up Mr Test!"_.The wolf heard his warning and quickly swung his sword forwards to block the blow heading straight for him.

"_Go dad!" _a youthful voice cried out from beside Aimé. Antoine looked at the young wolf confused, then shook his head and toddled in their direction. _"Wook out!" _the little pup suddenly cried out, Antoine realising that the warning was for him quickly ducked to the left, skidding roughly across the gravel as he did.

Antoine winced as he struggled back up to his feet. One of the overlanders glared at him, as if they didn't approve of him dodging their attack. Antoine returned the glare with a pained look. _"This isn't very fun..." _he muttered to himself.

Aimé sensing trouble ran forward, unsheathing a sword as he did. _"Back off" _he growled out pointing the sword in what he thought was a threatening way at the overlander, though it actually looked quite comical with his cloak flowing around him, and the fact that the sword was painted green for some reason.

"_Seriously?" _the overlander asked. Antoine started to giggle because the whole situation was starting to become funny to him. _"Oh well you're going down!" _he growled dashing forwards, Aimé quickly raised his sword and parried the blow.

"_How many of you guys are here anyway?" _Aimé asked trying to distract him.

"_There's me, Sam, Mike and Tom" _the overlander answered with a grunt. Aimé frowned then quickly feinted a blow then caught him on the side with his sword. _"What the" _the overlander asked caught off guard as he stumbled back. _"Why you little..."_

"_Oi language there are kids here!" _Aimé cut him off. Jacqueline and Antoine both looked up interested in finding out what he meant. _"When you're older" _Aimé mouthed to them, Antoine suddenly got the feeling that it wasn't something he'd ever want to know.

"_You know none of you will stand a chance against Tom right?" _the overlander teased. That was when Antoine heard and ominous click. He had a horrible feeling of what might follow the sound and he yelped, jumping backwards when a loud bang echoed throughout the area.

Luckily the shot missed it's target, but a chunk of the path had being blown out. _"Wook Out, Bushes, Bushes!" _Antoine cried out thoroughly panicked.

"_How on Mobius did that kid dodge Tom's shot?" _the overlander Aimé was up against gasped shocked. _"And how does he know where he's hiding as well?" _he wondered. Aimé overheard him and quickly spun his sword like a helicopter blade, forcing the overlander to take a few steps back or risk losing a limb or two.

"_Back off!" _Aimé smirked, he suddenly jabbed forwards with the sword and his opponent had to quickly swing his sword forward to block. The click sounded again, this time Antoine knew what followed and he quickly pulled Jacqueline out of the danger zone. When the bang echoed not only did the shot miss the two pups but Mike got caught in the leg.

"_What goes around comes around" _Alexandre grunted resting on his sword and glaring at the downed overlander.

"_That really hurts" _Mike groaned then he looked up at the mobian _"Well aren't you going to finish me?" _he asked, almost in a pleading voice.

"_There are kids here, so no" _Alexandre stated walking carefully over to Antoine and Jacqueline to check them over.

"_I think we should leave now" _Sam stated stumbling over to his partner _"What do you think Tim?" _he asked.

"_We'll be back Mobians" _Aimé's foe growled, quickly breaking the sword lock they were in and ducking over to Mike and Sam. _"And next time you won't be so lucky" _he swore under his breath as he left and Antoine shook his head.

_'Those words are not nice words...' _he thought to himself. _"Linguige!" _he cried out after them.

"_How sensitive are that kids ears?" _One of the overlanders cried out in shock. Antoine, Aimé and Jacqueline just smirked while Alexandre gave a deadly look after the three.

_'Wait weren't there four of them...' _Antoine wondered. The tell-tale click came from the direct left of the group. _"Heads Up!" _Antoine shouted jumping clear. Jacqueline quickly followed his example, followed by Alexandre and Aimé. The red wolf quickly scooped up his son and also vacated the area, just as a bang echoed through it.

"_That was too close" _The wolf stated then he turned to Alexandre _"That boy's something special take good care of him"_ he told Alexandre who shrugged then admitted.

"_He's my brother's adopted son" _The wolf nodded in an almost satisfied way.

"_I thought he was adopted. The red eyes gave it away" _he stated. Antoine stared at him confused while Jacqueline laughed elated that she wasn't the only one to have wondered about his eye colour. _"My own boy could be classed as adopted as well" _he added ruffling the younger wolf's headfur. "_Well I hope to see you all in the future sometime" _he stated walking away. Antoine nodded, catching the young wolf's green eyes with his red ones.

"_We will" _they both mouthed to each other almost in a trance like state. The spell was broken when Jacqueline shook Antoine back to reality.

"_So do you think that Uncle is back home with Lunch all ready for us to enjoy?" _she asked him. Alexandre nodded and then scooped her up, Aimé done the same with Antoine who huffed in annoyance.

"_Why don't we go and see?" _Aimé asked _"And if he isn't there is always the option of getting take out" _he stated happily. Unable to resist Antoine started to laugh as they started back to the house for the second time that day.

* * *

_**I had to re-write this out about twice I think, I'm still not overly happy with how it turned out in the end, and I'm not the best at fight scenes if I'm completely honest, also I don't know all that much about swordplay in the first place so I have no idea if it's okay or even correctly portrayed.**_

_**Well I hope you all enjoyed it anyway, also Jacqueline's a little bit too eager to get into the action if you asked me. C&C is gladly welcomed.**_


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